Caesar’s Palace

Caesar’s Palaceis a casino simulator of five games: Roulette,Blackjack, Slots, Craps and Baccarrat, and all the sights and soundsare of the actual casino in Las Vegas, and you play by the same rules,with the same odds and payouts, as authenticated by Dr. William Bertram, Ph.D.

Starting The Game

When the game begins you are placed by the Signpost, from which point youcan select any of the five games. First, however, you will need to go to theCashier to register the number of players and collect your chips.From here you can also save/load your position to the memory card, or to savespace you position is also encoded in the form of a password which, whenentered, will restore your bank balance.

You can also select the Management option which will toggle computerplayers, game sound, play dialogue, and ambience. Finally the Tutorialsoption will go through each step of all games available apart from Slots.

Playing the Game

There are five games available which are as follows :

Roulette: The table is presented in front of you, and you place yourchips by using the directional-pad to move your cursor onto the requirednumber and clicking once. Further clicks add extra cash to that pile, and theamount that can be bet on each click of the button can be altered.

The game does not give any odds on each outcome, but these are explained in thetutorial, more of which comes later. After all bets are placed, the wheel canbe spun and then fate decides the rest. The graphical representation of thewheel is very good and fills the screen, making it clear to see where the ballis going.

Slots: Three different machines are available, which have minimum betsof $1, $5 and $25 respectively. With each spin of the reels you can bet one,two or three times the minimum bet amount. The reels and main controls fillthe screen, giving an easy readout.

Blackjack: This version of this game allows up to three players(with at least one being the Playstation). Firstly, place your bet and theinitial cards are dealt. Then you can choose to hit (take a card), stand (takeno more cards), or double-down (double your bet). If you go bust (over 21) youlose, and if you win you double your money, unless you score Blackjack (21) inwhich case you win at 3-1, as long as the dealer hasn’t got a Blackjack either.

The other two games which are available are Craps andBaccarrat, neither of which I’m familiar with, but both arewell-covered in the tutorials like Blackjack and Roulette.

Tutorials

Something I’ve not seen before in a casino game is a tutorial. For Roulette,Blackjack, Craps and Baccarrat, a tutorial is given in the shape ofa full-motion video (FMV) clip in which an American goes through each stage ofthe game in quite a cheesy manner.

Graphics, Sound and Playability

The graphics look fairly classy as they are digitised from the actual casino,but what you’re mainly interested in is the graphical representations of thegames at hand, which are shown in plenty of detail.

The sound is also functional. The roulette wheel is spun – that’s exactly whatyou hear. The cards are dealt in Blackjack, and sampled sounds of this is whatyou hear. The reels of the fruit machine go round and round, and… yes, youguessed it. However, it doesn’t need anything else to be added to it. One niceaddition though is the ambient effects of the surrounding crowd.

Playability is fine, but takes a bit of getting used to. Working your way aroundthe cashier’s desk seemed complicated at first, but careful following of theinstructions will get you through. Also, in some of the games, after settingup your bets and then moving to “Next”, it can be all too easy to accidentallydouble-press a button an undoing everything you’ve just done which can bequite frustrating.

Overall

The one problem with casino games is that their fun to play for a while, butto me their appeal soon fades as you’re not winning real money. The amount inyour bank is just an ever-increasing (or decreasing) figure, and if, in the caseof the roulette wheel, you place a bet on every available option, you can’tfail to lose. I’ve not always felt that way though, as I used to enjoy theCasino game that was available for the Atari 2600 VCS almost 20 years ago.

The consensus is then, that if this is the first time you’ve come acrossa casino-style game, you’ll have a lot of fun with it, but if you’ve beendown this road a few times before, there’s not a lot more on offer here.This can be shown by the fact that I didn’t play each game for too long,but my girlfriend loved it and couldn’t stop playing.

GRAPHICS : ***SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC: **PLAYABILITY: ***ORIGINALITY : **ENJOYMENT : **——————————-OVERALL : **

If you’re after some more info on Interplay’s games, check out their officialWebsite at : www.interplay.com

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1998.